Exchange Migration
I just got done with a small Exchange Server 2003 to Exchange Server 2007 migration and ran into a couple of problems. What makes these problems notable is that when I searched on them for answers, a lot of people seemed to have encountered similar (or exactly the same) symptoms, but none of the solutions listed actually worked -- this included at least one KB article.
- The first problem became evident right after we moved the first mailbox from the old server to the new. None of the messages sent to the new mailbox actually made it. They all got stuck in the Unreachable Destination queue on the Exchange 2003 system. This included messages from an external source and from mailboxes hosted on the 03 server. Messages from the migrated mailbox were delivered fine however.
Most references and discussion on the web revolved around the site connectors that get created automatically when installing an Exchange 07 server into and 03 Organization. These had been created correctly, but we recreated them just for grins, no va.
It turned out that we hadn't suppressed the Link State updates on the 03 server. This was conscious choice made because only a single 03 server existed and according to certain web sources, it was not necessary. Turns, out, at least in this case, it was needed. Once we suppressed the updates, the queue emptied and all the mailed flowed successfully.
- When we went to uninstall Exchange 2003, we kept getting "0x80072030 (8240): There is no such object on the server". Microsoft KB 283089 explicitly talks about this error but was not the issue; all mailboxes had been moved and the private information store on the 03 server had actually been deleted.
Some research led me to look at the Recipient Update Service (RUS). Apparently the uninstall actually checks to the see if the Recipient Update Service container exists and when I deleted the RUS, I deleted the entire container at CN=Configuration,CN=<domain>,CN=Services,CN=Microsoft Exchange,CN=<Exchange organization name>,CN=Address Lists Container,CN=Recipient Update Services instead of just the Recipient Update Service (Enterprise Configuration) object in the container. I simply recreated the container in ADSI edit and the uninstall worked without an issues. Exchange 2007 doesn't use the/a RUS, so this is a required step to uninstall Exchange 2003. The Technet library article http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb288905(EXCHG.80).aspx talks about the entire procedure with the correct steps.
Ultimately, the migration went pretty smooth and the customer was extremely happy with their brand, spanking new Exchange 2007 server!